2019 1st Asia International Symposium on Arts, Literature, Language and Culture (AISALLC 2019) A Study on Change of the Aesthetics of Timbre of Chinese Pop Music Wei Zhou Minjiang University, Fuzhou, 350108, China Keywords: Chinese pop music, musical aesthetics, timbre view, change Abstract: Timbre is the soul of vocal music sound, is a kind of characteristic that the singer displays in the vocal sound, is the important aspect of singing, and even today when the mixed sound is attached great importance, the timbre is still the most important factor in the music aesthetic. Since the development of Chinese pop music, great changes have taken place in the aesthetics of its timbre. The aesthetic understanding of the timbre of Chinese pop music is based on the traditional timbre view of Chinese music aesthetics, from the "air sound" singing method at the beginning of development, to the "rock and roll style" in the mid-80's and the "northwest wind" in the late 1980s. To contemporary pop songs, such as "pluralistic mixing" and other styles have shown people's understanding of the aesthetic of timbre in different periods. These changes express people's pursuit of the spiritual world, as well as the resonance between people to "beauty". 1. Introduction Throughout more than a century of ideological contention, all kinds of cultural ideas and concepts have always been accompanied by the transformation and development of Chinese society in different fields, but also change with the changes in society and economic life. The western literary thoughts and musical thoughts absorbed and accepted under the open cultural mentality of more than two decades are colorful. Pop music in China began to rise in the early 20th century. With the accelerated pace of reform and opening-up, a series of modernist thoughts and methods in the West were introduced to China one by one. This leads to an unprecedented breakthrough and change in the field of musical thought and aesthetic concept. Vocal music works of art are not independent from subject what exists, its value lies in its unique form of perceptual existence calling and, to a certain extent, guiding the free creation of the subject's aesthetics. In pop music singing, from the point of view of aesthetics, the distinct personality color, the personality difference of aesthetic feeling, the variety of taste and hobby, can be the objective factors of pop music aesthetics. While timbre occupies an important position in music aesthetics, modern appreciators have different views on the definition of timbre beauty. This article will study the aesthetic of timbre change of Chinese pop music , introduce the traditional timbre view in Chinese music aesthetic, and discuss every change of Chinese pop music development so far and the change of timbre aesthetic in Chinese pop music. This paper analyzes the value characteristics behind the change of Chinese pop music timbre aesthetic, and makes contribution to better understanding of Chinese pop music and the change of timbre aesthetic in the course of its development. 2. Traditional phonological views in Chinese Music Aesthetics Among the many formal elements of music, the timbre is the best carrier which can reflect the basic characteristics of the material in the material form, and is recognized as the most important element in the form of music. [1] The range between the two sounds at the same time determines the nature of the artistic tone, and the timbre feeling of the different and the range is shown in Table 1 below. In Chinese folk music and people's aesthetic psychology of music, the aesthetic concept of timbre is a very complicated problem, even after pop music, the "foreign", entered China. It is still influenced by the aesthetics of Chinese traditional timbre. On the whole, we generally think that The Chinese people's timbre has the tendency of "near-human voice", "It's natural, diversified and Copyright © (2019) Francis Academic Press, UK 105 DOI: 10.25236/aisallc.2019.022 individual." and "high-frequency, clear, bright, transparent, sweet, crisp and round". Table 1 timbre sensation of different and vocal intervals tone colour pitch interval Net color Same degree, eight degrees, four degrees, five degrees. Heterodyne: secondary light Three degrees, six degrees. Achromatic colors: dark 3-degree,6-degree small Variant colors: turbid bright Two-degree, seven-degree Ambiguity: Dark and dark 7-degree small Heterodyne: turbid Increment and subtraction range Heterodyne: heavy turbid Small second degree 2.1 Near-human voice As early as the pre-Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, The concept of “human voice is best" has first appeared in the timbre aesthetic psychology of Chinese". The human voice is the most beautiful, and the sound of the instrument is at the back of the human voice, human voice is still the most valuable voice." On the other hand, the famous aesthetic proposition, "Silk is not as good as bamboo; bamboo is not as good as person's voice.“ which further explains the Chinese people's timbre aesthetic tendency of "human voice is the most beautiful." It was first seen in Tao Qian's biography of Mr. Meng, the deceased of General of Jin Dynasty, and Liu Yiqing's biography Meng Jia in New language of the World. It is a dialogue recording the Jin people Huan Wen ask Meng Jia (Tao Qian's great-grandfather): "Wen asked: ‘What's good about wine? Why do you like drinking so much?' Jia said, 'Is that you don't feel the pleasure of drinking.' He also asked: ‘When you listen to music, you think that Silk is not as good as bamboo, bamboo is not as good as person's voice. Why?' answer:' approaching nature.' ". "Silk is not as good as bamboo, bamboo is not as good as person's voice," is the most direct reflection of the Chinese people's aesthetic concept of timbre is that the tone of "silk" is not as good as that of "bamboo" (a wind-blowing instrument that sends out a hyphenated sound), and that the tone of "silk" is not as good as that of "bamboo". That is, bamboo air-singing instrument with its long tone, than to produce granular sound to play the instrument closer to the human voice; And the sound of "bamboo" is not as charming as direct "voice" sound from one's own voice. [2]Here, the progressive sequence of silk-bamboo-voice reflects exactly an aesthetic comparison between the directness and naturalness of these three in expressing the inner feelings of the Chinese people, and reflects the aesthetic tendency of the Chinese people's view of sound, that is to say, close to the voice of the people. Near nature is the highest interest, is the "asymptotic nature". 2.2 Natural, diverse and personalized In the view of nature and philosophy of Chinese traditional culture, we should respect and comply with nature. What man and nature pursue is a harmonious and harmonious affinity relationship between man and nature. Therefore, in the material selection of musical instrument making, it is different from that of western musical instrument making, which tends to adopt artificial and standardized material. When making national musical instruments, the Chinese pay more attention to the natural materials such as bamboo, wood, Reed, gourd and so on, which grow in the back of the front house next to them. [3]According to the materials made in the Western Zhou Dynasty, in addition to "gold" in the classification of musical instruments, there are other "stone, earth, leather, silk, wood" in the classification of musical instruments. "The use of natural materials means respect for natural attributes and reservations, and nature itself means diversity and uniqueness." The wood, the purple sandalwood, the coconut shell, the bamboo, etc., the part of the body of the body is the variety of python skin, the small snake skin, the wood board and the like, and the selection of these different materials will completely determine the distinctive and different timbre difference between the musical instruments. The pursuit of timbre diversity in Chinese music is not only reflected in musical instruments, but 106 also the pursuit of diversified timbre in Chinese traditional vocal music art. [4]In Western operas, there are only flowers (female), drama, lyric high, middle and low (no female low), which are mainly based on the phonological region, and the basic division of the phonological range is different. Chinese opera, such as Beijing Opera, is more based on the strict timbre definition of life, Dan, net, end, ugliness of the different types of roles should be divided. And, depending on the timbre of different characters, the five lines can also be subdivided: the birth of the elderly, Xiao Sheng, Wu Sheng, Old and penniless, Wu Laosheng, Xiaosheng penniless, Wu Xiaosheng and poor Xiaosheng; Danfen Zhengdan, Lao Dan, Hua Dan, color Dan; net big flower face, second flower face, white face; ugliness also includes text, Wu ugliness and clown. In view of these specific roles, in the actual singing, the tone also has meticulous and rich requirements. "For example, Lin Chong, Wu Song and Yan Qing in the Shuihu Opera are all Wu Sheng, and the singing notes of the three people are different in the treatment of the timbre: Lin Chong's tone is relatively soft and dim, emphasizing the characteristics of his 'A tasteful martial arts player', and Wu Song's singing notes are exciting. Robust, embodies the personality of "martial arts with ruthlessness", the tone color of Yanqing Then is 'bright', 'transparent', show the character of 'show in martial arts'. "[5] 2.3 High-frequency clear, light and transparent In Chinese national vocal music (including operas), there are only a few middle-bass parts, and the treble part is also higher than the corresponding part in the west, and the whole sound area is on the high side.